From Minnie's Ditch To John's Ditching

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Monthly Archives: August 2015

Built in 1927 for use in the sardine heyday, the Tin Cannery has been home to outlet shopping since 1988 and never seemed to take off, despite the thousands of visitors exiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium across the street.

When the outlet mall had stores it was pretty good. One could get a variety of things without having to deal with the traffic. Ardan’s, Rebock, Corning and more.

If this deal fizzels, remember these names people.

“Project Bella aims to be the leading luxury hotel in the United States,” said a news release.

The project is a partnership between Domaine Hospitality Partners and the Cannery Row Co., which owns the cannery building.

Noon on Saturday I come across an unattended commercial vehicle parked in the disabled parking place. Look around and see none of P.G.’s finest so I take a few pictures and consider call them or at least the 831-747-7085 number and reporting them. Then head off to go to the bank.

The driver shows up and shouted at me asking if I had some concern and after a debate on what the definition of parking is I go into the bank. Driver of said Central Coast Juicery truck moved it to a legal parking spot and goes to the same bank as I, where he continues to deny any wrongdoing. Give it up Mark, you ended up on Facebook in addition to LighthouseAvenue.com.

Awful whiny story. Calls El Camino Real “The 101” like some sort of LA type. And the pesticides that get into schools – well who builds schools next to a toxic vegetable field?

I started my own journey at the head of 68, Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds, where rooms were running almost $300 a night. The highway took me first through Pacific Grove, a prosperous village (low unemployment, a median house price north of $700,000, little poverty). I had to turn right to stay on 68 near the gate to 17 Mile Drive, which takes you to world-renowned resorts.

Then I turned northeast, as 68 joined up with Highway 1 for 2 miles, before splitting again near Seaside, not far from where Tesla Motors plans to open a new sales center

On my own drive, I reached Salinas and followed Highway 68 past Salinas High and through downtown to where it ended at the 101.

In Salinas, there is resentment toward the other end of Highway 68. Some ask why Monterey environmentalists don’t fight as hard against pesticides that get into Salinas schools as they do against coastal development. Others complain that Monterey is a magnet for jobs, which relegates Salinas to serving as a place for people who can’t afford to live near their work on the peninsula.

Wha wha what? The very leaders the residents elect and the goofus Moammar have all been working hard to bring tourists to the town. Suddenly the town is becoming popular with visitors and people are all mad about it?

Why act so surprised? First there was the come-heres buying up all the funky rental houses, they remodeled them and stayed in them for a few weeks a year. Now they are renting them out to total strangers they find on the Internets.

Be careful what you ask for, tax loving P.G. politicians. You may get something slightly different than you wanted.

The program has been around for the last five years, but in the last year the city has seen an explosion in requests for short-term rental licenses.

Longtime Pacific Grove resident Thom Akeman has owned his home for 27 years, and he said thanks to sites like Airbnb his street has taken a turn for the worse.

“The last year it’s ceased to be residential, very few people live on this street because the short-term rentals that started about five years ago just in the last year went crazy,” said Akeman.

And people stuck behind a VW. But good day to sell fire extinguishers.

Some 130 air-cooled Volkswagens that left the U.S.-Canada border on Friday for a 1,500-mile, border-to-border cruise rolled into Pacific Grove on Wednesday afternoon, turning heads and bringing back memories.

It was the Pacific Grove VW Show & Shine, a stop on the Treffen 17 VW Cruise and Car Show started by Scott Dempster, CEO of Airhead Parts in Ventura, a supplier of stock, air-cooled VW restoration parts.